Feathers, Friends and Furry-Things
by Silverstar
Summary: A Christmas Present for everyone! John's feeling lonely up on '5, so his brothers decide to step in and change that with a rather unusual Christmas gift!


**_Well, I don't know if you guys remember or not, but I did promise my beta a Christmas Present. And obviously I can't give it to her, so I've written her one instead. _**

**_Thanks for everything Anna! You're amazing! Happy Christmas! _**

**_Okay, this is also a Christmas Present for a fantastic friend: Smish123 and the wonderful person that is bubzchoc, who always reviews! :)_**

**_This is my first Christmas Fanfic I've done, so reviews would be fantastic! I'm posting this slightly earlier than I originally planned, as I know a couple of people are off on holiday, so happy Christmas everyone!_**

**_Thanks to Smish123 for beta-ing this for me so it could be a surprise for my usual beta! :)_**

* * *

><p>"Anything much going on?"<p>

Swinging his chair round, feeling incredibly bored, John shook his head. "Nope. Just a fire in Africa, but I think the Rescue Services there can sort it out."

"Keep an eye on it all the same," Jeff told him.

John nodded, leaning forwards and pressing several buttons on his control panel. "FAB, Dad."

"See you later, John. I've got to go. I need to rescue Virgil from the clutches of your younger brothers."

John grinned. "What've they done now?"

Jeff shook his head. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

But that was the trouble, John felt like screaming at him. He did want to know.

It wasn't that he didn't like it up on '5. '5 was his bird, so of course he loved her, and it was peaceful up amongst the stars. But when he could see the Earth below, and see how beautiful it was, and how at night, he could see the lights glittering from the continents, he couldn't help but feel lonely. When was the last time he'd felt rain on his face, or actually just sat and chatted to his brothers?

And now he was spending Christmas up on Thunderbird 5. Which, to be honest, really sucked. Brains was meant to have been manning '5 for the Christmas season, and John had been getting ready, excited to finally be enjoying a Christmas Day with his family.

And then Alan had caught the flu on a rescue and passed it round to the whole family, apart from John. Although they were all recovered, Jeff didn't think it would be wise to make Brains go up to '5, where he would be by himself.

Of course, there were the video calls and the long chats but it wasn't the same. It wasn't like sitting in the same room, opening presents and enjoying Grandma's Christmas Dinner.

And apple pie. Boy, he really missed that apple pie.

John propped his feet up on the Control Panel, and picked up his book. After about five minutes of reading the same page, but none of it sinking in, he gave up, and started staring out at Planet Earth instead.

If he looked really closely, he could make out Tracy Island. At night, it looked like a star, with all the lights on, as it was the only land for miles, in the ocean. John imagined his brothers putting up the Christmas tree, and laughing as they tried to choose who would put Grandma's old angel on the top.

A cheerful beeping sound announced an in-coming call. John leaned forwards, grinning as he saw who it was. Oh this would be good - he'd find out what had made Virgil so annoyed with the Terrible Two. He opened the link.

"Hi Gordo."  
>"Hi space-case! Spoken to any aliens today?"<p>

John chuckled. "Nah, they decided to desert me and go to thePlanet Tracy instead."

Gordon frowned at him. "There's something wrong with you."

"Huh?" Was he that easy to read? John was known as the quietest Tracy, but he'd been quite chatty to Gordon, so how could he tell that there was something wrong?

"You must have spoken to Dad by now?"

"Yeah..." Where was this heading? John began to feel slightly nervous.

"And you haven't asked what prank we played on Virgil!" Gordon finished. He paused, looking at John. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied. He wasn't going to spoil their Christmas by making them worry about him. "What prank did you do?"

"Turned him into a frog."

John stared at him. "What?"

Gordon nodded, grinning from ear to ear. "We replaced the water in his shower with green goo and then tightened those paints of his so they exploded on him. And then of course, he came after us, so we just shoved him the pool and took a photo. Oh, and sent that to everyone's contacts!"

John shook his head. "He'll kill you."

"This is me. He'll kill Allie, yeah, but not me." He gave a smug smile.

John, watching his computer screen, tried hard to stop himself from laughing. Virgil's watch tracked him to just outside Gordon's room.

"You sure about that?" He questioned his younger brother.

"Yeah, I am amazing at escaping from you lot!" Gordon boasted.

John started laughing. Gordon glared at him.

"What?" He demanded. "What's so funny?"

Meanwhile, behind him, Virgil was creeping up, clutching a bucketful of green paint mixed with yellow feathers.

"See how you like being a 'frog'," he yelled at Gordon. Gordon froze, realising who it was, and leapt out of his chair, skidded across the room and slid into the wall. Virgil promptly dumped the paint on top of him, and there was a flash as he took a photo on his phone.

"Ha," he announced triumphantly. "Oh look, the frog's growing feathers!"

Gordon glared at him and then realised that Virgil was doing something to the camera. "What're you doing?" He questioned suspiciously.

Virgil winked at John, who was laughing as the picture came through on his computer.

There was a little beep as the camera flashed. "Picture Sent," an electronic voice announced. Gordon stared at Virgil.

"Come back here!" He yelled as Virgil leapt to the other side of the room. "You are sooo dying now!"

He missed Virgil, instead tumbling through the doorway. Virgil hurriedly disappeared, the prize camera held in mid-air.

Gordon re-appeared looking furious. "Why didn't you warn me?" He whined.

"Didn't feel like it," John told him. Gordon shrugged.

"Gotta go, I've got a brother to kill."

"See you..." John sat back in the chair. Damn, he wanted to be at home.

* * *

><p>"Thunderbird 3 to Thunderbird 5. Hey Johnny, are you even awake?"<p>

John jolted out of his half-sleep, and promptly dropped his hot-chocolate. That was weird, he could have sworn he had just heard Alan and Scott.

"Johnny?"

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"Oh thanks," came the sarcastic reply. "We travel up here to bring you home for Christmas, and that's how you greet us? Next time we won't bother. In fact, I'm turning round-"

"Give me that dumb microphone Alan!"

"Bye Thunderbird 5, I'm heading home now."

"Stop making him worried!"

"Approaching Earth."

"Give me that microphone!"

"No!" There was a couple of banging sounds and a few shouts and then:

"Hi Johnny, sorry about the delay. I had to get a wild beast commonly known as the Alanus-Tracius-is-stupidous under control. But can we come in now?"

There was another scuffle and then: "This is Thunderbird 3, requesting clearance to land at Tracy Island!"

For a split second, John thought, in horror 0that they really had gone back home, but he shook the doubt away: his brothers would never desert him, unlike the aliens!

"This is Thunderbird Airways, requesting clearance for docking procedure."

John laughed and carried on with the joke. "This is Thunderbird 5 Airport, you are clear for docking procedure."

There was a pause and then: "Thunderbird Airways regrets delays due to an unexpected arrival known as Alanus-Tracius-is-stupidous."

"Hey, Scott, I am NOT stupid."

"Sure Sprout. Sure." There was a sound of something hitting something and then Scott's voice echoed over the radio: "Did you just hit me with a cushion? Where'd you get a cushion?"

"From Grandma's room."

"She'll kill you. Wait - since when did Grandma have an _orange_ cushion?"

"Ooh, Grandma's kinda funky!" Alan announced. "I wanted to be comfortable."

"So why don't you just bring a different chair?"

"Oh yeah. How's that work? Hey Dad, I'm just going to rip the chairs outta '3 'cos they ain't comfortable enough. Oh, by the way, when's dinner?"

"Something like that."

There was another pause.

"I'm dying of old age in here you know," John called out to them.

"Geez, what's Scott like then?" Alan replied cheekily. There was a yelp of indignation from Scott and then another pillow fight.

"Why did you bring an _orange_ cushion though?"

"Orange is cool. I though you'd like to look like '3."

"Seriously? '3 is the colour of a..."

"Be very, very careful what you say next!" Alan warned him.

"Looks like a pumpkin. Or a carrot. Or some fish that Gordon's sat on."

"You insulted '3! That's it - you die!"

"I was insulting the colour orange!"

"Same thing!"

"But, _ow_, would, _hey_, you, _yuck_, get, _ow_, off!"

"Never!"

"You, _oof_, suck!"

Finally the doors opened and the pair of them tumbled head-over heels, landing at John's feet, covered in orange feathers.

"Hi?" Alan suggested, spitting out feathers.

"You certainly know how to make an entrance! Why are you here though? Really?"

Scott grinned at him. "The aliens told us that they deserted you. We left them helping Gordon chase Virgil round the house. They're probably in the forest by now."

John shook his head. "The real reason?"

"Weeell," Scott began. Alan started laughing and was promptly hit in the head with the pillow. "It was because I saw this chocolate cake of Grandma's. And I was real good because I didn't have any, and when I went back, Dad handed me this plate...so I decided that if he could have some, so could I. So I did. And Grandma found me. So I ran annnd..."

"And he ran into the Christmas tree and broke the angel." Alan finished triumphantly. He paused. "Don't 'suppose you have any cookies?"

John threw the tin at him and then turned back to Scott, who was trying to pick feathers off his shirt, and not having much success. "You broke the angel? Do you have a death wish?"

"Grandma had a spoon." Scott widened his eyes and John. "You can't throw me out, and force me back to Tracy Island, 'cos that would be murder!"

John smirked at him. "I can live with that."

Alan started choking on the cookie crumbs. John whacked him on the back with the cushion. Immediately, Alan raced from the room, returning with two pillows.

"Take that!" He yelled, tossing feathers at John.

"And there was me thinking I was safe up here," Scott whined, ducking as a cushion swung past his nose. "Geez guys, are we going to put up the Christmas tree or not?"

John froze. "Christmas tree?" He squeaked, feeling like an over-excited five-year-old. "You brought a real live Christmas tree?"

"No," Alan put in. "He did."

Scott sulked. "I like Christmas trees. They're cool."

"Yeah, but John just said he could live with sending you back down to be killed by Grandma, sooo, what's the point of bringing up the Christmas tree?"

"But..." Scott stared pleadingly at John. "You wouldn't send your own brother to be killed?"

John laughed. "She won't kill you."

Scott shuddered. "But...but...she has...the spoon!"

John shoved a cookie in his mouth. "The spoon?"

Scott and Alan nodded. "The spoon."

"It was terrifying," Scott added as an after-thought. "And it was all Dads' fault."

There was a pause while they all considered: John considering Scott's 'crimes', Alan imagining Tin-Tin and a bunch of mistletoe and Scott imagining the terrifying spoon.

"Can we put up the tree now?" Scott and John asked at the same time.

"I thought I was the silly one here?" Alan questioned and was pounded with the cushions.

* * *

><p>John stepped back from placing the star on top of the Christmas tree. Scott and Alan, still eating cookies, gazed at it.<p>

"That looks awesome," Alan announced, and then squeaked as something green dropped into his lap. "Mistletoe?" He questioned.

Scott winked at him. "For when we get home."

"Hey!" John shouted as he was blind-folded. "What's this for?"

"So the aliens can't see who we're kidnapping." Scott suggested and shrugged as Alan gave him a look that said: _Seriously? What __**was**__ that?_

"Wait and see." Alan told him.

"But what about Grandma?" John questioned as he was led into '3. "And the Christmas Tree?" "That's for the aliens." Alan announced. "What?"

Scott shook his head. "You're a lost cause Alan. And um...Johnny, we may have lied about Grandma. But you'll like the surprise."

"Do you know," Alan announced. "You're the only one we haven't pranked at all this Christmas?"

John felt nervous. Uh-oh. The Terrible Two clearly had something planned.

As '5 was out on auto and '3 headed back down to Earth, Scott and Alan kept talking about aliens.

"Yeah, the aliens will like the Christmas tree."

"Would you shut up about aliens?" John yelled in fond exasperation. Silence.

"We're here." Scott announced.

"Also known as the home of the aliens," Alan whispered dramatically.

John walked straight into something. "Ow!"

"Sorry..." Alan told apologetically and promptly led him into another wall. "Um...Scott, can you take over, 'cos I'm not very good at this."

"Clearly." John muttered.

"Aww, is someone missing the aliens?"

"Bloomin' aliens."

"Okay...open your eyes. Oh wait, I know why you can't see." Alan tugged at the blind-fold. "Geez, Scott, how tight did you tie this?"

"Look, like this. Anyway, I was trying to see through _orange_ feathers." John blinked as bright light flooded his eyes.

"What's _orange_ got to do with it?" Alan grumbled.

"It was freakin' orange! That's what was wrong with it!"

"Huh?" John opened the door and promptly drew back. blinked as bright light flooded his eyes.

"Welcome to the Christmas Party!" Yells came from Gordon and Virgil who were still circling each other like piranhas, glaring at each other fiercely.

Scott and Alan shoved him into the room. "You said you were feeling lonely! Well you're not anymore!"

* * *

><p>"And here's the last present!" Alan wriggled under the tree, and tried to back out again, to discover he was stuck.<p>

"Oh what a shame, ay?" Gordon grinned, seeing his younger brother's predicament. "You're stuck!"

Scott, still sulking about the orange feathers, smirked at Alan.

Alan, finally free of the tree, read the label on the present. "For Johnny." Then, with a frown, he added: "From the aliens."

"Who put that on there?" Gordon mouthed at him. Scott and Virgil exchanged looks and burst out laughing.

"John told you there were aliens on the island! And so there are: The Terrible Two!"

Alan and Gordon glared at them before retreating to the kitchen. A moment later a shout came from Grandma:

"Get yours hands off that cake!"

"Run, Alan, run!" Gordon yelled. "She has the spoon!"

"Who is she? The cat's mother?"

"But we don't have a cat," Virgil said sadly, as the Terrible Two came bounding into the room. "You made that white cat go and live with Penelope."

John opened the present and frowned as a map fell out. He looked up. "Let me guess - this is going to take a long time?"

* * *

><p>John frowned at the map and then looked up again. No, he was right. Slowly, he opened his bedroom door.<p>

Something bright green leapt out at him. Letting out a startled yell, he stumbled backwards. The bright green thing sat at his feet. John stared at it - it was a dog, a little dog. A King Charles Spaniel Puppy dressed in a green costume.

"Do you like him?"

"You said you were lonely," Jeff explained. "So, we thought we'd get you a companion."

"He's an alien!" Alan grinned.

John let the poor spaniel out the costume and it started licking him. "I'm not calling him alien!"

There was a pause. "Bingo!" Came a shout and Scott came skidding round the corner.

"I've got the cake," he explained.

John was laughing. "That's his name."

Scott stared at him. "You can't call a dog Bingo!"

"Yeah you can!"

There was a pause. "Happy Christmas everyone!"

John grinned. The best Christmas present was being with his family. And Bingo would always remind him of them.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Oh and by the way - sorry if some people don't like dogs! I needed an animal, and a dog was the obvious choice, especially as it would be spending time up on '5!<em>**

_**I hope you all enjoyed, and have a very happy Christmas! *gives out christmas cards***_

_**Kat x.**_


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